Even in freezing winter, the offices of Yinghua Swimwear Manufacturing Co. Ltd. in Xingcheng were buzzing with activity. Under bright lights, livestreaming hosts enthusiastically showcased the company’s latest swimwear to online audiences on retail platforms like Taobao and Douyin.
“This is our brand’s new Chinese-style collection,” one host exclaimed, “featuring pearl and coral patterns—perfect for relaxing at a hot spring during the Spring Festival holiday (January 28-February 4) !”
A quick search for “swimsuits” on popular retail platforms reveals that many originate from Xingcheng, part of Huludao in Liaoning Province. Xingcheng was once defined by its traditional heavy industries, like petrochemicals and non-ferrous metals, and few then could have predicted its rise as a fashion center.
Secret of success
The city has many swimwear producers. Tian Shu, General Manager of Xingcheng Haocheng Garment Co. Ltd., is among the third generation of swimwear entrepreneurs in his family. “My family has witnessed the development of Xingcheng’s swimwear industry. Our business started with my grandmother sewing swimsuits at home, using just a sewing machine,” he told Xinhua News Agency. “Then my parents opened a small workshop, and my aunt would carry large bags of swimsuits to wholesale markets, searching for customers. “
Tian’s grandmother, now nearly 90 years old, was among Xingcheng’s swimwear pioneers.
Xingcheng is located on the western shore of Liaodong Bay in southwest Liaoning, bordering the Bohai Sea. The city is bounded by 261 km of coastline, nearly 90 percent of which is sunny, sandy beaches. As early as the early 1980s, Xingcheng was already a well-known coastal summer vacation destination, popular with many residents of Beijing, 400 km to the southwest.
These visitors’ colorful swimsuits caught the attention of local residents, as they were then only common in large cities like Beijing and Shanghai. From these swimsuits, some Xingcheng locals recognized a promising business opportunity. At the time, some women could make around 30 pieces a day, earning 1 yuan ($0.14) for each piece. The income was substantial compared to the approximately 60 yuan ($8) monthly salary in a factory.
In those early days, Xingcheng’s swimwear industry was primarily composed of small, family-run workshops. Locals primarily sold their creations directly to beachgoers, displaying their wares in baskets.
In the 1990s, state-owned enterprise reforms triggered a wave of layoffs across northeast China. Stripped of their secure jobs, workers had to seek new livelihoods. Swimwear factories, offering comparatively good pay and ample employment opportunities, quickly became highly sought-after employers. These factories offered salaries as high as 300 yuan ($41). This influx of labor fueled the transition of Xingcheng’s swimwear industry from small, family-run workshops to larger-scale operations.
Xingcheng isn’t alone in China as a swimwear production hub. Jinjiang, a port city in Fujian Province, and Yiwu, the renowned small commodity distribution center in Zhejiang Province, are also recognized for their thriving swimwear industries. Guangzhou in Guangdong Province also boasts many swimsuit factories.
In this competitive landscape, and with Xingcheng lacking a clear geographical advantage, the city has still managed to rival, and even slightly outperform, its competitors.
One crucial factor in its success lies in a little-known piece of history. During the early days of the People’s Republic of China, cotton production lagged and people wore nylon. The first batch of nylon—the synthetic fabric ideally suited for swimwear—was produced at the city’s Jinxi Chemical Plant. This easy access to nylon laid a vital foundation for Xingcheng’s swimwear industry.
Furthermore, the local government has consistently prioritized the swimwear industry. Initiatives like government-sponsored exhibitions help local enterprises expand their market reach. To foster the development of independent brands, the government also provides training programs and actively recruits talented individuals for swimsuit companies.
Through the combined efforts of entrepreneurs, skilled workers and the government, Xingcheng’s swimwear industry has snowballed.
Today, 80 percent of Xingcheng’s swimwear companies produce their own brands, including high-end ones like Balneaire. Balneaire has even established a brick-and-mortar presence in Beijing’s prestigious Galeries Lafayette Department Store. Many of its designs have graced the pages of fashion magazines, with some luxury swimsuits commanding prices of over 2,000 yuan ($275) a piece.
The swimwear 2.0 era
In recent years, Xingcheng’s swimwear industry seized the rapid ascent of online retail platforms.
If the period before 2012 was Xingcheng swimwear’s 1.0 era, defined by a reliance on offline sales, then the years following 2012 ushered in the 2.0 era, dominated by the digital marketplace.
Sun Kaibin’s Sanqi Garment Factory is a prime example of the new generation of companies. Established 11 years ago, the factory operates a flagship store on online retail platform Tmall. Today, online retail accounts for a remarkable 90 percent of its sales.
Capitalizing on the e-commerce boom, Sun’s factory rapidly expanded. Employing over 100 workers, it now produces approximately 1 million pieces annually.
Sun’s company was far from alone in experiencing this surge. Data from 2018, the peak of e-commerce development, revealed that Xingcheng then had over 40,000 online swimwear stores. Notably, 80 percent of all online swimwear sales in China were shipped from Xingcheng that year.
Now, Xingcheng’s swimwear companies are again transforming, this time embracing digital and intelligent manufacturing. At the production workshop of Zhuoyimei Garment Factory, for example, automatic cutting beds have replaced manual labor. “Digital and intelligent transformation has improved production capacity, enabling enterprises to handle large orders,” Liu Zhuo, the factory’s general manager, told Xinhua.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is also being applied in Xingcheng’s swimwear industry. The Liaoning Provincial Textile and Garment Association, the Xingcheng Swimwear Association and Hangzhou Deep Thinking Artificial Intelligence Co. Ltd. jointly established the Xingcheng Branch of the Liaoning Textile and Garment AI Design Research Institute. Wang Fei, General Manager of Hangzhou Deep Thinking Artificial Intelligence Co. Ltd., explained that through AI algorithms, the most popular designs can be swiftly identified from thousands of options, greatly shortening the design cycle and boosting efficiency.
Current statistics paint a picture of sustained growth: Xingcheng is now home to over 1,300 swimwear companies, with an average annual output of around 170 million pieces (or sets), accounting for more than 40 percent of the domestic market share.
In March 2024, the TV series The Swimsuit Saga, based on the stories of Xingcheng swimwear entrepreneurs, further elevated the industry’s prominence. This, in turn, spurred business activity, with new customers placing orders and negotiating deals. Visitors from across the country flocked to the Northeast Asia (Xingcheng) International Swimwear Expo in July that year.
Contracts and transactions valued at 1 billion yuan ($138 million) were signed and made at the expo, which attracted 830 cloud exhibitors from both domestic and international markets, alongside over 100 offline exhibitors. The expo, now in its 14th year, continues to elevate the city’s international reputation for swimwear. BR
(Print Edition Title: Sports Illustrated)
Copyedited by G.P. Wilson
